Improvement in cotton-presses



W. C. VAN HOESEN.

Cotton Press.l

No. 2.026. Patented April'2, 1841.

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ilnrTnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,026, dated April 2, 1841.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. VAN I-IoE- sEN, of Catskill, Greene county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Construction of a Press for Pressing Hay, Straw, Cotton, or other Substances, and an Improvement in the Application of Power to the Same, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and accurate description thereof. i

The nature of my invention consists in the application of a new principle of power t0 presses, whereby the use of the screw is entirely done away with, and the work performed in a better, easier, and more speedy manner than by the presses now or heretofore in use.

In the use of the press hereby sought to be patented (there is,no doubt) three or four times the quantity of hay or other material may be compressed, in a better manner and at an almost incredible diminution of labor, in the same space of time, the horse being required to travel at each pressing less than one hundred feet, whereas by the former method he was obliged to perform a distance of some thousands of feet in a circle. The power is produced (in lieu or instead of a screw) by a large wheel, B, (circulan) to which a rope isV attached, by means of which the power is ap plied through the agency of a horse, or, if necessary, by a capstan or windlass and lever. Upon the inside of this large `wheel B is constructed a spiral or scroll wheel, c, grooved and extending from the shaft, which is the center of the scroll, toward the outer edge of the wheel B. A corresponding scroll-wheel, c2, is placed on the opposite side of the press, and grooved in like manner. A In these grooves the chair D, which is attached to the outer edge of the scroll, (at S in drawings,) as soon as the power is applied begins to travel or wind up, decreasing the resistance to the power as the chain approximates to the center, until it at last revolves or winds upon the axle or shaft, at which time the follower is drawn up and the bale pressed. It will be seen that as more [power is required as the material is in the progress of compression, it is by this improvement obtained by an increaseV of purchase as the chain recedes from the outer edge or circumference of the wheel to which the poweris applied. Your petiltioner prays leave to refer to the drawings rially vary in its construction from. the box or trunk of an ordinary hay-press, excepting the opening or groove g g g, in which the end of the follower travels up .and down. The letters B B B B represent the power-wheel, of a circularform, in the rim or edge of which is cut a groove or hollow, in which a vrope passes, to which is attached a horse, at or near H, or passing round a windlass or capstan, as may be convenient, which rope is secured by one of its ends to the circumference of the wheel B in any convenient way. C C C show a spiral or scroll wheel fastened inside of the larger or power wheel B, in the edge of which is a groove in whichthe chain D D travels, approximating to the center or shaft as the follower is drawn up, lessening the resistance and of course creating a greater purchase by the power-wheel as the material becomes compressed and hardened and at the times when gileater power is required. (The application of the chain and power-wheel to the scroll the undersigned considersas one of the most important advantages of his invention.) D D is a chain, one end of which is fastened to the outer edge or end of the scroll, as at S, passing throngh or over the pulley-block E at the head of the press, thence down around and under the pulley-block El, which is at the end of (and attached to) the follower, thence up to the head of the press, where it is fastened by hooks or bolts e e. Its operation inlifting thefollower is described lunder the letters C C C. E E2 are the pulley-blocks above referred to, one attached to the head of the press and the other to the end of the follower. rlhese are separate when the follower is down, and brought near together when the follower is drawn up by the chain D D. F shows the end of the follower. g g g g represent an opening or groove, up and down which the end of t the follower passes. H shows the rope to which the horse or windlass power is attached.

Plate N o. 2 shows the side of the press opposito tho power-whoa, with the fonowor down ready for pressing. 'lhe letters A, &c., B, Ste., 0,8m., D, 8vo., E, &c., Fggg, Src., represent the same or corresponding wheels, box,

chain, rope, &c., as are more particularly described in the illustration of Plate No. 1, and it is deemed 4unnecessary to give a superfluous repetition of their description. K is a rope or cord fastened to the scroll-wheel, and traveling around it in an opposite direction to the chain D. To this cord a suitable weight, K2, is attached, and this weight operates as a balance to the follower while it is pressed down by the iilling of the box with hay or other materials. This cord also operates in such manner upon the scroll-wheel that when the box is filled and the follower down the weight is raised and acts as an assistant in pressing. L represents theend of the shaft, to which the wheels are attached by iianges or otherwise. W shows the doors of the press thrown down or open to hoop and take out the bale whenv pressed. i N2 in Plate 3 shows said doors in a closed position.

Plate No. 3 shows the end of the press with the shaft and wheels, &c. attached. The edges of the wheels, the chains, &c., are marked with the same letters as in plates Nos. l and 2. L shows the shaft, of iron or wood. M represents the straps or boxes into whichthe shaft revolves, and by which it is connected with theposts of the press; 1N, the upper part of the box or trunk, into which the hay, te., is pressed, and which can be thrown open outward and downward for the purpose of hooping and taking out the bale, as at W in Fig. 2. O is a bar which keeps the doors N closed, and may be removed to open them, one end passing out at the notch n. Q represents a capstan, to which the rope H may be attached,`

and the press worked by hand or horse power at pleasure. resting against one of the pins a: a: x, &c., in No. 3, and prevents the power-wheel from running back while the bale is hooping and being taken out.

Vhat I claim as my invention and improvement, and which I desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the pow'er and scroll wheels with the chain and follower of the press, the whole being constructed as herein set forth, or in any other manner substantially the same.

WM. C. VAN HOESEN. Witnesses:

IsAAc PRUYN, Zorrriin B. OsnoRN.

Y in Plate 1 is a chock or fall 

